Providence janitors take action for union power

Hungry but unbowed, janitors want respect.

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Over 40 union supporters protested Oct. 31 in front of the "Turk's Head" downtown office building as five strong-willed people went into their fifth day of fasting. The fasters, camped out in front of the fancy bank offices since Oct. 27, are members of SEIU local 615 and their supporters. They want the owner of the building, millionaire landlord Evan Granoff, to hire a cleaning contractor who uses union labor.

The union janitors, a majority of whom are Black and latin@, make under eight dollars an hour. Their contract allows the wages to be re-negotiated if the union can enlist 65 percent or more of Providence's janitors. Currently 64 percent are members.

Maritza Caro, one of the five-day fasters and a member of the Comité de Trabajadores Unidos (United Workers Committee), told Workers World she was fasting to support the janitors, who faced "discrimination, threats and humiliation" for even meeting with union organizers.

Jorge Cabrera, a local 615 member and five-day faster, told Workers World "my body is tired, but my spirit is strong." He was fasting to "build a new Providence, with respect for workers rights". Cabrera said that respect would include better wages and health benefits for all workers.

Granoff pays janitors so little they need to work two jobs to make ends meet. But he makes millions building luxury apartments in a city where homelessness and foreclosures are on the rise. While many doubt this landlord has any conscience to be touched by the fasters' appeals, their action has won popular support and forced uncharacteristic sympathetic reactions from politicians.

Union-busting Providence Mayor David Cicilline and a gaggle of elected officials visited the vigil to pay their respects. Even Providence Police Chief Dean Esserman, who on Oct. 28 threatened to arrest the fasters for sitting in chairs on the sidewalk, had to come by to shake hands with them.

The union is asking supporters to call Martins Maintenance, the cleaning contractor at Turks Head, at 401-435-0202, to tell them that the janitors deserve a just wage and a voice on the job, and should not have to put up with threats and intimidation.

Union supporters in Providence are asking everyone to back the janitors' struggle and fight to make Providence a 100-percent union town.

Alex Gould is a member of UFCW local 328